Create a Knowledge Base from Scratch: Easy Guide in 13 Steps

You better believe it: the majority of customers still highly value (and expect) self-help resources. And, when it comes down to it, the knowledge base is the bedrock of information that supports self-service options.

Oh, and did we mention that it can significantly bring down your incoming ticket numbers and boost employee productivity?

Of course, to reap all these rewards, you first need to actually create a knowledge base. Luckily, you’re in the right place — we’ll show you how to create a knowledge base from scratch in nine simple steps.

So, ready to enjoy lower ticket volumes, happier customers, and a less stressed support team? Then, we won’t let you hang any longer – let’s build an awesome knowledge base, together.

What is a Knowledge Base? (Quick Overview)

A knowledge base is a centralized library of resources designed to answer questions, solve problems, and share information. It’s where stakeholders (whether customers or employees) go to find answers to their most burning questions, without having to get in touch with another human.

Usually, this looks like a collection of useful and organized information, like FAQs, tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and more.

It can take the form of an external knowledge base, providing customers with self-service options like FAQs, tutorials, and troubleshooting guides. Or, as an internal knowledge base, which is typically used to share company policies, processes, and training materials among employees.

It’s also possible to host it as an online knowledge base or an offline resource, depending on how you want to manage and share access to it.

Knowledge bases are moving beyond just being a storage place for static articles. Instead, you should think of it as a self-service assistant—available 24/7—empowering users to find solutions on their own. This is especially true when integrating a knowledge base with your Typically, it integrates in some way with your help desk software to offer a comprehensive, integrated support experience.

Today, businesses use knowledge bases to reduce ticket volumes, boost customer satisfaction, and improve productivity. AI-powered knowledge bases take this to the next level by leveraging the power of personalization, analytics, and content generation that AI has to offer.

How to Create a Knowledge Base from Scratch in 13 Easy Steps

Don’t know where to start building a knowledge base? As always, we have you covered😉.

Below, will cover everything from A to Z. You’ll learn how to tackle the planning phase, how to organize your knowledge base content and maintain it long-term.

Ready to get started? Then, let’s get to it:

1. Research to Establish Your Goals

Without knowing exactly why you need a knowledge base and what you hope to achieve, it may be nothing more than a shot in the dark.

Taking some time to formulate your requirements and vision is essential to ensure that the final product aligns with your overall support goals.

One of the best ways to go about this is to frame your fact-finding mission as a series of questions, like:

• What are the main questions or issues your customers need help with?
• Who is your knowledge base for? Is it for internal use, such as helping employees onboard, or external, to provide self-service options for customers?
• What gaps are you addressing? What specific challenges, such as repetitive customer inquiries or inefficient collaboration, should it solve?
• How often do teams struggle to access critical information? Identify whether delays in accessing policies, processes, or FAQs are impacting productivity or customer satisfaction most.
• Will this knowledge base reduce dependency on key individuals? For example, if certain employees leave, how much critical knowledge will go with them?
• What’s your scalability plan? Does your organization have long-term growth goals that require a knowledge base to expand with it?

If you’re more of a numbers person, you can start by identifying specific KPIs that you want to improve through your knowledge base. Some metrics you could build a knowledge base success plan around include:

• Support ticket volumes
• CSAT (customer satisfaction) scores
• Employee or customer onboarding times
• Query repetition rates
• Ticket resolution times, and more

If you’re lacking some inspiration, you can always look at knowledge base examples of your peers or competitors to see what’s possible.

2. Identify the Type of Knowledge Base You Need

The last thing you want to do is invest a significant amount of time, money, and energy into a knowledge-based solution, only to have to start from scratch later on. And, the type of knowledge base you build will have significant implications for all of the following steps as well.

So, this is one of the most important steps throughout the whole process.

Largely, your decision will be based on the goals you defined earlier and your intended audience:

• External database: Typically, an online knowledge base that’s made publicly available so that it’s easy for your users (and potential customers) to access. Mostly consists of FAQs, tutorials, troubleshooting guides, etc.
• Internal database: Aimed at supporting employees with company-related documentation, such as policies, onboarding material, and training resources.
• Wiki or forum: Two types of collaborative knowledge bases that leverage community interaction and content.

There are also many other more use case-specific knowledge bases, like those dedicated to a single project or product, as well as developer-oriented ones.

3. Pinpoint the Core Elements and Content for Your Knowledge Base

On top of choosing the right knowledge base type and software, you should also choose the type of content you want to form its foundation.

Which one you pick should largely depend on the type of resources you want to provide, your customer’s preferences, and your goals. 

Ideally, you’ll want to have more than one type of content in your knowledge base. Not only does this boost user engagement, but it can make your content more accessible and valuable.

Like different instruments in an orchestra, you need to consider how you can bring these elements together to create a harmonious user experience:

• FAQs section: Arguably the best and most accessible way to provide quick answers to the most repetitive queries.
• Search bar: A robust, user-friendly search tool should feature smart suggestions, autocomplete, and predictive results to empower users to instantly find relevant topics.
• Support contact options: Consider adding a prominent floating chat widget and contact details like an email, phone number, or ticket form.
• Most read articles widget: Showcase popular content on the homepage for quick access.
• Related articles section: Suggest relevant articles to guide users to additional helpful information.
• Ratings and feedback forms: Allow users to rate articles and provide comments for ongoing improvement.
• Multimedia content: Integrate video tutorials, step-by-step audio guides, and infographics to simplify complex topics and engage visual learners.

4. Define Your Knowledge Base’s Structure and Key Categories

Your goal is to create a hierarchy of knowledge that makes semantic sense and feels intuitive to navigate. When presented with multiple options, it should be clear to users which direction to go in, and they should never feel lost within a particular category or topic.

Even if you don’t know exactly what your individual topics will be, you must get the overall structure right from the get-go. Not doing so will be like trying to build a building using a messy or unclear blueprint.

For example, an e-commerce business might start with categories like “Shipping” and “Returns.” A SaaS company could organize its knowledge base into “Getting Started,” “Troubleshooting,” and “Advanced Tutorials,” with subcategories for each product. This allows users to drill down based on their user journey and the specific tool they’re using simultaneously.

Concepts around which to structure your knowledge base content include:

5. Determine the Most Important Topics for Your Knowledge Base

A knowledge base is only as good as its content!

Instead of haphazardly picking topics and adding them to the pile, strategically pinpointing key issues can help ensure that you address the biggest user pain points first. The knock-on effect is further reducing repetitive support queries and building a trusted resource that users rely on time and time again.

At first, this may seem like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But looking for patterns in your support tickets and customer feedback is a good place to start. Talking to your frontline team members can offer invaluable insights. 

What questions or issues pop up repeatedly? Are there any that your agents feel they see over and over again?

These should be your top priority.

6. Create an Editorial Plan for Your Content

Like they say, if you don’t plan, you plan to fail.

Drafting an editorial plan with a publishing schedule will help you keep yourself accountable when it comes to sticking to your timeline and making your your knowledge base always has new and valuable information.

Once you have a list of your most important topics, prioritize them according to their impact and value. 

For shorter lists (10-15 topics), you may aim to tackle them all immediately and publish them as soon as you launch your knowledge base. For longer lists, rate topics as high, medium, or low priority to focus on the most impactful ones first.

As a bonus, organizing your content by “severity” or “priority” can be another intuitive navigational tool.

Then, come up with a publishing schedule that fits your timeline and resources. For example, you could publish a new article once or twice a week (or, whatever suits you!)

The key thing to remember is: don’t rush. Yes, at the end of the day, you want a comprehensive resource that leaves no stone unturned. But, you can’t rush quality.

So, focus on what matters most first and start small if you have to.

7. Assign Responsibilities to Each Team Member

Building a comprehensive knowledge base is not a one-man job, and you’ll need to organize your team effectively to avoid wasting time and resources. The best way to do this is to create and assign clear roles so that everyone knows what’s expected of them and where they sit in the chain of events.

While you might need more or less, here are some of the core roles you need:

• Knowledge base manager: Basically, the project lead that will set timelines, oversee the project, and manage your workforce.
• Subject matter experts: These are the people who know the most about your product, customers, or issues. They can be developers, consultants, or customer support agents.
• Content creators: The folks who will actually be drafting articles on a daily basis.
• Reviewers/editors: They will ensure that content creators follow all your editorial guidelines and that content is ready for publishing.
• Technical specialists: This is the individual or team responsible for keeping your knowledge base solution up and running.
• Analytics or SEO team: They will monitor your content performance, user behavior, and search engine performance to optimize your knowledge base over time.

8. Plan the Design and Tone of Voice to Match Your Brand

A formal content guidelines document will be your north star as you continue to develop content. It’s essential to maintain a level of professionalism and consistency over time that will help create trust and brand loyalty.

A style guide will also help you more easily onboard or train new content creators without extensive training and supervision. So, you can continue to churn out high-quality content at a fast pace.

At a minimum, your content guide should cover:

• Content structure templates (FAQs, how-to guides, etc.)
• SEO rules (keyword volume, metadata, etc.)
• Tone (e.g., friendly, professional)
• Formatting (e.g., headers, bullet points, capitalization, etc.), and
• Language preferences (e.g., US vs UK English, jargon, technical level, etc.). 

However, it may also include rules for visuals, like infographics, screenshots, videos, or decorative images.

While this may seem like a hassle at first, your editors and publishing team will thank you later on.

Last but not least, developing a layout and design template for different types of articles will streamline production and improve consistency. For example, you’ll want a different template for FAQ pages, how-to guides, or general information articles, not to mention a consistent layout for your archive pages.

9. Start Creating Content (With SEO in Mind)

We get it. It can be really intimidating to create the first content for your knowledge base.

However, if you’ve prepped yourself using the steps above, it can be the most fun and rewarding part, instead! As long as you have a clear content strategy, keep your content guidelines handy, and have a user-first mindset, you’re good to go.

You can think of creating each piece of content as a mini-project. There’s planning, execution, quality assurance, and publishing.

We’ve broken it down for you step-by-step, so you’ll find it a breeze:

1. Come up with a clear, search-ready title: For most content, use straightforward, action-oriented language, like “How to Reset Your Password” or “Using the Dashboard.” Try to match the language you see your users search for.
2. Maintain a simple, friendly tone: How friendly and how simple depends on your product and brand. However, it’s advisable to cater to your users who need the most help.
3. Structure for readability: To make your content “scannable” and not overwhelming:
   1. Keep paragraphs short—two to three sentences max.
   2. Use bullet points and numbered lists for steps or sequences.
   3. Bold key terms or phrases to highlight critical information.
   4. Consider using a legend or jump links at the start of the page.
4. Add visual elements: Break up text with screenshots, videos, diagrams, or infographics to illustrate complex concepts.

5. Use links strategically: Link to the content you already covered instead of repeating it. Also, link to related articles or resources to help users explore other topics useful to them.
6. Edit and proofread: Always proofread before publishing. Ideally, have a colleague review your content to catch errors or check for clarity. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.
7. Leverage generative AI: AI tools can assist by generating drafts/outlines, suggesting improvements, or identifying gaps in your content. Use them to streamline the process and maintain consistency.
8. Check for SEO: You can make this the responsibility of your content writers or editors. However, it should mostly entail following a checklist of SEO best practices defined in your editorial policies.

Bonus: Don’t limit yourself to just one format, especially for your most valuable/looked-for content. For example, a “how-to” guide could also be a video tutorial or an FAQ snippet. Different formats engage different users, and it’s more time-efficient to convert one topic into multiple formats at the same time.

10. Decide Whether to Publish it Independently or With Knowledge Base Software

Publishing your knowledge base independently gives you full control over customization and branding. 

However, you’ll also need to create a knowledge base system from scratch, which is incredibly time-consuming and exhausting to maintain. This is especially the case for growing businesses that are in constant need of updating old content and publishing new information to serve an evolving product and customer base.

For these reasons, we’ll argue all day that using one of the top knowledge base software is a more effective and scalable way to go:

1. Powerful search capabilities: Advanced search tools with filters and AI suggestions to help users quickly find answers.
2. Customization: Easily tailor layouts, colors, and branding with intuitive editors and templates.
3. SEO optimization: Built-in tools to help improve search engine visibility for external users.
4. Effortless organization: Features like tags, hierarchies, and breadcrumbs simplify navigation.
5. Analytics and feedback: Measure performance and track user engagement for continuous improvement.
6. Team-friendly tools: Simplified publishing and updates encourage consistent use by your team.
7. AI and automation: Leverage AI to automate customer experiences, with features like dynamic content, personalized suggestions, an chatbot integrations.
8. Flexible pricing and scalability: Choose solutions that fit your budget and grow with your business.

11. Integrate your Knowledge Base with AI-powered software (Recommended)

Using a knowledge base with AI-powered capabilities is basically like taking many of the tasks and features we’ve discussed and strapping a jetpack to them.

First of all, AI can help automate or speed up many processes, identifying topics by analyzing your past tickets or identifying content gaps. Secondly, they can help improve and optimize your content with natural language processing and generative AI by making writing, SEO, and other suggestions.

Not to mention assist creators by generating entire drafts, outlines, or articles from scratch.

Secondly, AI chatbots can integrate with your knowledge base by pulling answers from relevant topics in real-time.

And, thirdly, machine learning algorithms continuously refine your content production and customer interactions by learning over time without any manual intervention.

12. Analyze Performance and Gather Feedback to Improve

Just like creating content, optimizing your knowledge base to better serve users is a continuous process.

Following SEO best practices ensures that users can easily find your articles, while intuitive navigation helps with signals like bounce rates, time on page, etc. Part of this is regularly analyzing search trends and keywords to ensure you’re using the most current ones.

Use analytics tools to track popular searches, unanswered queries, and article performance (many knowledge bases offer this built-in. Leveraging feedback forms and satisfaction ratings can reveal areas needing improvement).

13. Review and Update Content Regularly

Gone are the days when the knowledge base is an evergreen and unchanging tome of wisdom.

In the age of AI and agile development, your product, processes, and customers are always changing. And, the rate of change just keeps accelerating!

To stay relevant and useful, your knowledge base needs to evolve just as fast. Or, you risk just setting your customers up for failure.

Regularly review your knowledge base to identify content gaps and outdated information. 

Have protocols in place to update content promptly when products, processes, or customer needs change. Prioritize articles with high traffic or critical importance to ensure users always have reliable answers.

Generative AI and AI-powered analytics tools can help by analyzing patterns in user behavior, suggesting updates, or even drafting content improvements. 

Best Practices to Make the Most of Your Knowledge Base

You know your knowledge base is successful when it not only answers questions but also empowers customers and employees to find solutions quickly. 

Most of these tips are only really possible if you’ve chosen to use a dedicated knowledge base software as it comes with the tools to help implement these practices.

With that in mind, here are some of the knowledge-base best practices you should adhere to, and how you can implement them with Customerly:

• Automate interactions with AI: Your chatbot should be able to pull up-to-date information from your KB in real time to enhance user interactions. Customerly’s Aura AI does this by crafting natural-sounding responses from your knowledge base articles.
• Create content directly from support tickets: This saves time, as agents don’t have to manually reformat their tickets into articles. Customerly’s generative AI tools allow you to turn resolved customer queries into actionable knowledge base articles within a few clicks.
• Offer multilingual support: Manual translation can be insanely time-consuming and fraught with the risk of errors or miss-translations. Customerly offers built-in translation tools with advanced language understanding to cater to diverse audiences with minimal overhead.
• Add visuals to simplify complex topics: Many people learn better visually, and it’s a great tool to boost engagement and content value. You can easily embed video tutorials directly into articles using Customerly’s video-friendly editor.
• Analyze and improve with reporting tools: You need to frequently monitor your KBs’ performance to ensure you’re actually addressing user needs. Customerly’s analytics track article performance, user satisfaction, and search trends to help you refine and expand your content.

Create Your Knowledge Base with Customerly in Just One Day

Rome wasn’t built in a day. And, likely, neither will your knowledge base be.

However, Customerly can help you simplify the entire process by providing user-friendly tools and the power of AI at your fingertips. From easy setup to powerful features, like our very own Aura AI, multilingual support, and advanced reporting, we’re your one-stop solution for a world-class knowledge base without headaches.

So, pick Customerly and fast-forward to happy customers, reduced workloads, and streamlined knowledge base management.

Ready to see how Customerly can transform your customer support strategy? Then, book a call with us today and discover how Customerly can help you build the perfect knowledge base and achieve measurable results.